Technical Interview Questions Networking

What is an IP address? What is a subnet mask? What is ARP? What is ARP Cache Poisoning? What is the ANDing process? What is a default gateway? What happens if I don't have one? Can a workstation computer be configured to browse the Internet and yet NOT have a default gateway? What is a subnet? What is APIPA? What is an RFC? Name a few if possible (not necessarily the numbers, just the ideas behind them) What is RFC 1918? What is CIDR? You have the following Network ID: 192.115.103.64/27. What is the IP range for your network? You have the following Network ID: 131.112.0.0. You need at least 500 hosts per network. How many networks can you create? What subnet mask will you use? You need to view at network traffic. What will you use? Name a few tools How do I know the path that a packet takes to the destination? What does the ping 192.168.0.1 -l 1000 -n 100 command do? What is DHCP? What are the benefits and drawbacks of using it? Describe the steps taken by the client and DHCP server in order to obtain an IP address. What is the DHCPNACK and when do I get one? Name 2 scenarios. What ports are used by DHCP and the DHCP clients? Describe the process of installing a DHCP server in an AD infrastructure. What is DHCPINFORM? Describe the integration between DHCP and DNS. What options in DHCP do you regularly use for an MS network? What are User Classes and Vendor Classes in DHCP? How do I configure a client machine to use a specific User Class? What is the BOOTP protocol used for, where might you find it in Windows network infrastructure? DNS zones describe the differences between the 4 types. DNS record types describe the most important ones. Describe the process of working with an external domain name Describe the importance of DNS to AD. Describe a few methods of finding an MX record for a remote domain on the Internet. What does "Disable Recursion" in DNS mean? What could cause the Forwarders and Root Hints to be grayed out? What is a "Single Label domain name" and what sort of issues can it cause? What is the "in-addr.arpa" zone used for? What are the requirements from DNS to support AD? How do you manually create SRV records in DNS?

Name 3 benefits of using AD-integrated zones. What are the benefits of using Windows 2003 DNS when using AD-integrated zones? You installed a new AD domain and the new (and first) DC has not registered its SRV records in DNS. Name a few possible causes. What are the benefits and scenarios of using Stub zones? What are the benefits and scenarios of using Conditional Forwarding? What are the differences between Windows Clustering, Network Load Balancing and Round Robin, and scenarios for each use? How do I work with the Host name cache on a client computer? How do I clear the DNS cache on the DNS server? What is the 224.0.1.24 address used for? What is WINS and when do we use it? Can you have a Microsoft-based network without any WINS server on it? What are the "considerations" regarding not using WINS? Describe the differences between WINS push and pull replications. What is the difference between tombstoning a WINS record and simply deleting it? Name the NetBIOS names you might expect from a Windows 2003 DC that is registered in WINS. Describe the role of the routing table on a host and on a router. What are routing protocols? Why do we need them? Name a few. What are router interfaces? What types can they be? In Windows 2003 routing, what are the interface filters? What is NAT? What is the real difference between NAT and PAT? How do you configure NAT on Windows 2003? How do you allow inbound traffic for specific hosts on Windows 2003 NAT? What is VPN? What types of VPN does Windows 2000 and beyond work with natively? What is IAS? In what scenarios do we use it? What's the difference between Mixed mode and Native mode in AD when dealing with RRAS? What is the "RAS and IAS" group in AD? What are Conditions and Profile in RRAS Policies? What types or authentication can a Windows 2003 based RRAS work with? How does SSL work? How does IPSec work? How do I deploy IPSec for a large number of computers? What types of authentication can IPSec use? What is PFS (Perfect Forward Secrecy) in IPSec? How do I monitor IPSec? Looking at IPSec-encrypted traffic with a sniffer. What packet types do I see? What can you do with NETSH? How do I look at the open ports on my machine?

Technical Interview Questions Active Directory

What is Active Directory?

What is LDAP? Can you connect Active Directory to other 3rd-party Directory Services? Name a few options. Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD? What is the SYSVOL folder? Name the AD NCs and replication issues for each NC What are application partitions? When do I use them How do you create a new application partition How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs? What is the Global Catalog? How do you view all the GCs in the forest? Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs? Trying to look at the Schema, how can I do that? What are the Support Tools? Why do I need them? What is LDP? What is REPLMON? What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN? What are sites? What are they used for? What's the difference between a site link's schedule and interval? What is the KCC? What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default? What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server? What can you do to promote a server to DC if you're in a remote location with slow WAN link? How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? Can I get user passwords from the AD database? What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire? Name some OU design considerations. What is tombstone lifetime attribute? What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 DC in a Windows 2000 AD? What do you do to install a new Windows 2003 R2 DC in a Windows 2003 AD? How would you find all users that have not logged on since last month? What are the DS* commands? What's the difference between LDIFDE and CSVDE? Usage considerations? What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails? What FSMO placement considerations do you know of? I want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do I do? What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you NOT seize? Why? How do you configure a "stand-by operation master" for any of the roles? How do you backup AD? How do you restore AD? How do you change the DS Restore admin password? Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 4 months ago? What are GPOs? What is the order in which GPOs are applied?

Name a few benefits of using GPMC. What are the GPC and the GPT? Where can I find them? What are GPO links? What special things can I do to them? What can I do to prevent inheritance from above? How can I override blocking of inheritance? How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do that. A user claims he did not receive a GPO, yet his user and computer accounts are in the right OU, and everyone else there gets the GPO. What will you look for? Name a few differences in Vista GPOs Name some GPO settings in the computer and user parts. What are administrative templates? What's the difference between software publishing and assigning? Can I deploy non-MSI software with GPO? You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that?

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Active Directory

What is Active Directory? What is LDAP? Where is the AD database held? What other folders are related to AD? Talk about all the AD-related roles in Windows Server 2008/R2. What are the new Domain and Forest Functional Levels in Windows Server 2008/R2? What is the SYSVOL folder? What are the AD naming contexts (partitions)s and replication issues for each NC? What are application partitions? What applications or services use AD application partitions? Name a couple. How do you create a new application partition? What are the requirements for installing AD on a new server? What can you do to promote a server to DC if you're in a remote location with slow WAN link? ... How do you view replication properties for AD partitions and DCs? What is the Global Catalog? How do you view all the GCs in the forest? Why not make all DCs in a large forest as GCs? Talk about GCs and Universal Groups. Describe the time synchronization mechanism in AD. What is ADSIEDIT? What is NETDOM? What is REPADMIN? What is DCDIAG? When would you use it? ... What are sites? What are they used for? What's the difference between a site link's schedule and interval?

What is the KCC? What is the ISTG? Who has that role by default? Talk about sites and GCs. Talk about sites and Exchange Server 2007/2010. ... What is GPO? Describe the way GPO is applied throughout the domain. What can you do to prevent inheritance from above? How can you override blocking of inheritance? Name some of the major changes in GPO in Windows Server 2008. What are ADM files? What replaced them in Windows Server 2008? What's the GPO repository? How do you use it? What are GPO Preferences? Which client OSs can use GPO Preferences? What are GPO Templates? What are WMI Filters? What is the concept behind GPO Filtering? How can you determine what GPO was and was not applied for a user? Name a few ways to do that. A user claims he did not receive a GPO, yet his user and computer accounts are in the right OU, and everyone else there gets the GPO. What will you look for? You want to standardize the desktop environments (wallpaper, My Documents, Start menu, printers etc.) on the computers in one department. How would you do that? ... What are the major changes in AD in Windows Server 2008? What are the major changes in AD in Windows Server 2008 R2? What is the AD Recycle Bin? How do you use it? What is tombstone lifetime attribute? What are AD Snapshots? How do you use them? What is Offline Domain Join? How do you use it? What are Fine-Grained Passwords? How do you use them? Talk about Restartable Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008/R2. What is this feature good for? What are the changes in auditing in Windows Server 2008/R2? ... How can you forcibly remove AD from a server, and what do you do later? Can I get user passwords from the AD database? What tool would I use to try to grab security related packets from the wire? Talk about PowerShell and AD. ... How do you backup AD? How do you restore AD? Talk about Windows Backup and AD backups. How do you change the DS Restore admin password? Why can't you restore a DC that was backed up 7 months ago? What's NTDSUTIL? When do you use it?

... What are RODCs? What are the major benefits of using RODCs? How do you install an RODC? Talk about RODCs and passwords. What is Read Only DNS? What happens when a remote site with an RODC loses connectivity to the main site? ... Talk about Server Core and AD. How do you promote a Server Core to DC? ... What are the FSMO roles? Who has them by default? What happens when each one fails? How can you tell who holds each FSMO role? Name a 2-3 of methods. What FSMO placement considerations do you know of? You want to look at the RID allocation table for a DC. What do you need to do? What's the difference between transferring a FSMO role and seizing one? Which one should you NOT seize? Why?

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 TS/RDS

What is presentation virtualization? Describe the benefits of using TS/RDS. Describe the drawbacks of using TS/RDS. Describe the main TS role services in Windows Server 2008. Describe the main RDS role services in Windows Server 2008 R2. What are the major changes between the Windows Server 2008 TS and the Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS roles in relation to Windows Server 2003 TS. ... What is the TS/RDS Session Host? What are the benefits of using 64-bit hardware and OS vs. using the 32-bit version? Describe your experience in using TS/RDS. How can you configure TS/RDS session limits? Describe a couple of methods. What is GPO Loopback Processing? How do you standardize user profiles and settings across a TS/RDS farm? What are the major drawbacks of using Roaming User Profiles? Working with Outlook on TS/RDS, what can you tell me about using cached modes? How do you install applications on a TS/RDS Session Host? Describe a couple of methods. What are the TS/RDS command line management tools? How would you achieve high availability with RD Session Hosts? What is "Virtual Machine Redirection" and when would it be used? ... Talk about TS/RDS licensing.

Is there any difference in RDS licensing in Windows Server 2008 R2? What is the licensing grace period? Where would you install the RD Licensing server? Talk about small implementation and large implementation scenarios. ... What is RDS RemoteApp? Describe the benefits of using RDS RemoteApp. How do you publish a RemoteApp? What's the difference between using .RDP files and .MSI files when publishing a RemoteApp to the users' desktops? In Windows 7, it's possible to use RemoteApp in conjunction with RDS Web Access in a different manner. Can you describe this process? Needing to control which users get access to which RemoteApp. How can you do that? Describe the way RemoteApps integrate with the Windows desktop. Besides RemoteApp, what other ways or software lifecycle management solutions are you aware of? Talk about digital signatures and their relevance to RemoteApp publishing. ... What is RDS Web Access? Describe the benefits of using RDS Web Access. Talk about the implementation scenarios of RDS Web Access. Describe the process of securing RDS Web Access. How would you publish an RDS Web Access site? Can you use Web Access with other Microsoft-based solutions? Name a few. What's the alternative for using RDS Web Access? Talk about digital signatures in relation to RDS Web Access. How can you control who has access to the RDS Web Access website? What would you do in order to publish RemoteApps from multiple RD Session Hosts through one RD Web Access server? What would you do in order to publish RemoteApps from multiple RD Session Hosts through one RD Web Access server? ... What's RDS Gateway? What are the main usage scenarios for RDS Gateway? What are RAPs? What are CAPs? Describe the process of securing RDS Gateway. Talk about digital signatures in relation to RDS Gateway. What type of RD clients can be used with RD Gateway? ... What is the RD Session Broker? What was the original role of the RD Session Broker, and what where the names this role used in previous versions of Terminal Services? When would you need to implement a RD Session Broker? Talk about RD Session Broker and VDI.

Talk about the entire process of using all RDS components along with RS Session Broker. How would you achieve high availability with RD Session Brokers?

Technical Interview Questions - Windows Server 2008/R2 Hyper-V and Virtualization

What is virtualization (in general)? What are the 4 major virtualization areas? Describe the major benefits of Server Virtualization. What is the difference between hosted virtualization and hypervisor-based virtualization? What's the idea behind Type 1 and Type 2 methods of virtualization? Talk briefly about the history of Microsoft-based virtualization products. What is Hyper-V? Name a few competitive products that can be compared (even roughly) with Hyper-V. What are the major differences between Hyper-V RTM and Hyper-V R2? Name some of the major differences. What are the hardware requirements for Hyper-V? How many logical CPUs does Hyper-V R2 support? How much RAM can be assigned to VMs in Hyper-V R2? What's Microsoft Hyper-V Server? Describe the process of installing Hyper-V from scratch on a brand new Dell R710 machine. ... What types of network connections does Hyper-V allow? When building a new Hyper-V host, what would your networking considerations be? Why is it important to leave one physical NIC for the host OS? Talk about MAC address ranges and potential issues with Hyper-V RTM. How was this solved in R2? ... What are the different virtual disk options in Hyper-V? When considering performance, what type 0f virtual disk would you use? What are pass-through disks? Talk about hot adding and hot removing disks in Hyper-V R2. What are VM snapshots? Talk about performance considerations and other "issues" with VM snapshots. What's the difference between applying, deleting and reverting to snapshots? ... Describe the process of creating a new VM from scratch. Where does Hyper-V place the files and settings for VMs, by default? How do you change that? What are synthetic drivers? What are emulated drivers? When creating a new VM that'll run Windows Server 2008, what type of NIC would you create?

Following the previous question, what type of NIC would you create for a WIN PE-based VM? Why? Migrating a Windows Server 2003 VM from Virtual Server 2005, what type of NIC would you need to use? Creating a new VM, what type of disk controller would you need to use for the VM's system disk? ... What are Integration Components? Talk about certain issues with hosting DCs virtually. What are "Enlightened Partitions"? What OSs are supported on Hyper-V? What types of backups can you use for VMs? Talk about performing backups of VMs and VSS. How do you export a VM? Mention a couple of methods. ... Talk about domain membership considerations for Hyper-V hosts. Where can you manage Hyper-V hosts from? What is RSAT? How would you manage Hyper-V from a Windows 7-based machine? Talk about permission issues in regards of managing Hyper-V hosts. What is AZMAN? ... Talk about the licensing benefits of Hyper-V under the various editions of Windows Server 2008. Wanting to create a failover cluster on 2 Hyper-V nodes in Windows Server 2008 R2, what edition of Windows would you prefer? Why? ... Talk about Hyper-V-based high availability. What's Quick Migration? What's Live Migration? Talk about downtime issues with Quick Migration vs. Live Migration. Talk about the steps needed to be taken in order to setup a Live Migration setup. What is CSV? Can you create a Live Migration setup without CSV? Explain. Mention a few methods for initiating a Live Migration movement of VMs between one host and another. ... How do you monitor the performance of your VMs? How do you know how much memory a specific VM uses? How do you know what's the I/O used on a Hyper-V host? How do you monitor the bandwidth used by a specific VM? Talk about SCVMM, SCOM, SCCM and Hyper-V. Talk about WMI and Hyper-V.